At Lagos, convoy duty made battle unavoidable

Was the Battle of Lagos a defeat the Royal Navy needed in order to improve?

The escort could not readily avoid battle because it was protecting merchant ships; against a vastly larger French fleet, saving any substantial part of the convoy was itself significant.

The 1693 Battle of Lagos is framed as a protection problem rather than a free tactical choice. Rooke's force had roughly thirteen English and Dutch ships of the line against a French fleet of about seventy, but its duty to the merchant convoy prevented clean avoidance. The fact that part of the convoy escaped becomes more revealing than judging the battle only by ships lost.